About Charles

Charles  R. Saunders is a cutting-edge Baby Boomer, born in Elizabeth,Pa. --  a  small town near Pittsburgh. He later lived in Norristown, a suburb of  Philadelphia. He was educated at Lincoln University, a historically  black institution in Pennsylvania from which he graduated in 1968.  
The  next year, he moved to Canada, where his life as a writer began and  continued amid stints in scholarship, teaching, clerical work and,  ultimately journalism. As an avid reader of fantasy and science fiction,  he noticed that blacks were, for the most part, either absent from or  stereotyped  in those genres -- though there were notable exceptions  such as Ray Bradbury's Mars story, "Way in The Middle of the Air."
Having  developed a keen interest in African history, culture and folklore, he  combined those passions with an urge to write fantasy fiction. That  merger of interests resulted in the creation of African-based stories  and novels featuring Imaro, a brother who could kick Tarzan's ass, and  Dossouye, a Black Amazon who could do the same with the help of her Cape  buffalo companion, Gbo. 
He  coined the term "Sword and Soul" to describe this new subgenre of  fantasy fiction -- a tribute  to the Sword and Sorcery subgenre created  by Robert E. Howard back in the 1920s. As other writers began to explore  that theme, he became known as "The Father of Sword and Soul." 
Now  retired from his career in journalism, during which he worked as a copy  editor, opinion columnist and editorial writer, he continues to  contribute to the subgenre he founded.